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“I admit, I’m curious.” She shrugged, clearly doing her best to distract him from the awful truth that lay hidden within this place. It worked, somehow. “Does the castle speak to you?”
“Not like it does to you, apparently,” he said. “But in this kingdom, the queen is the ruler of this place, which is why there is a tree that lives when a queen is here. It might have a stronger connection with you than with me—and even with the king.”
Nava bit her nail, her eyes darting from dark corner to dark corner. “It’s kind of overwhelming,” she admitted. “Why do you think this area is so dirty?”
“I don’t recall the last time I could roam the castle without a tail of guards behind me,” he said, and they continued past the statues. If he really thought about it—had that ever happened? No. His fa—the king had tracked his every move from the moment he’d arrived in the kingdom. But now things had changed.
“There’s nothing here.” Nava’s skin became a beacon of light in the darkness. Her nose wrinkled as she sniffled. “I don’t think anyone has been here in a long, long time.”
He reached out for her hand, and her warmth enveloped his cold skin. Tonight had been terrible, but being with Nava made it somewhat tolerable. Even when grief overwhelmed him, she anchored and guided him. He looked away, unable to find the right words to express himself. He would probably not make much sense if he tried.
His spirits were quiet now, eerily so. They moved to the end of the hall, where two stained glass windows let in long streaks of light, casting a myriad of colors onto the floor. His gaze fell on a single mahogany door within the wall. Painted black and decorated with gold accents, it seemed to shield a lonely room, surrounded by nothing.
A shiver ran down his spine, causing every hair on his body to stand on end. The castle didn’t speak to him like it did to Nava, but had it guided him here, somehow?
His heartbeat sped as he inspected the familiar filigree adorning the entrance to the room, similarly designed to the ones in his father’s room door. A cool breeze seeped under the layers of his clothes as he took in the marble statue standing on one side of the door.
He would recognize his mother anywhere. This bust was much like the ones of the fae they’d passed earlier. She wore the same crown of thorns, and her hair, long and billowy, covered her round ears.
The storm of his feelings matched the weather outside. He focused on the gentleness in her eyes and the smile that made her look so young. She was almost the mirror image of the full statue beside the king’s room.
“I think this was my mother’s room…” His voice shook with emotion. Moving away from Nava and the sculpture, he blinked as his vision blurred.
It was idiotic to feel this overwhelmed and sad for someone he’d never even known. Except that the ghost of her burnt body had chased him for so long, and it was impossible to ignore the devastating truth of what he’d just learned. He’d been looking for answers about what happened to her when Nava arrived at this castle. Now he knew the king had killed her.
“She was beautiful,” Nava said gently and stepped toward the door, allowing him time to collect himself.
She could read him like an open book and could tell he wanted her nearby but needed space. He didn’t like to be coddled, especially when he felt vulnerable. “My mother was so young when she became the queen. She wasn’t ready to be married to the monster inside that room.”
“Nor was she ready to be mated to the other monster,” Nava whispered.
So she had come to the same conclusion: the emissary had been his mother’s soulmate, not the king.
She took a shaky breath and met his eyes. “Although if Leir is immortal and can’t die, then he has been stuck suffering for all these years. I think if that had happened to me, I would have gone insane, too.”
Arkimedes nodded. “My father said she was always ill. Maybe she was sick because her soulmate was away for so long, much like what would happen to the both of us if we were separated.”
“…you will be dead before the day is over, and your bloodline will be gone soon. Then, and only then, will I be free,” the emissary had told him the afternoon they’d fought in the forest.
Arkimedes had thought it meant that Leir wanted the crown for himself, but it had never been about power. He had no interest in taking the throne. He only wanted to die so he wouldn’t suffer anymore. This was about revenge and loss.
“Do you think she knew the king wasn’t her soulmate and lied to him?” Nava asked.
The same question had been running through his mind ever since his father had told them the truth. “I don’t know how she wouldn’t know.” He clasped his hands loosely and let his gaze drift over the edges of his mother’s statue. “The first time I met you back at the manor, I didn’t know you were my soulmate right away, not until I saw my mark later. I suppose it’s possible that if she saw Leir first, got the mark, and then saw my father, she could have assumed they were the same person…”
But—that didn’t add up, did it? They had different eye colors.
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t have found the soulmate mark on the king’s body either… Not unless he never allowed her to see him naked.”
He definitely didn’t want to think about that.
“Leir’s a blurred memory to me, but I remember his eyes were red.” Her breath billowed from her lips, giving away the chill in the air just as thunder rolled over the castle, shaking the windows behind her. Her brows dipped low, and her expression turned serious. “We both know how lies can fester if they go on for too long, but someone is hiding the truth here.”
“As I did back on Grey Island, when I didn’t tell you we were soulmates.”
“And then I did the same.” She looked away, and her cheeks turned red.
Perhaps his mother hadn’t been particularly bright and unable to tell the difference for that reason. A harsh thing to think, but how else could she not know?
